there's no way america would elect a prime african-american you can't get elected with the name barack obama. it's actually didn't matter. i didn't know anybody in chicago. i didn't know anybody around the candidate. so it didn't look like anything was going to be happening. december 26, december 26, 2006 my wife and i were shopping day after christmas we were shopping in a borns and noble just up the road in california. my phone goes off. this is right out of west wing. it's like, my tornado watch. it's somebody calling to find out if i'm interesting in working with the barack obama campaign. and so, of course, i was. i was quickly connected with a guy named steve held brand who became the deputy campaign manager. he was assessing staff. i thought i was apply forking the job for national campaign manager. it's voter exact. i thought i got to put it on the table i'm perfect for the job. i said, steve never indicated back that i was being considered for national campaign directer. but i put it out there. i said, steve, here's the thing, we can take, you know, we can make it so that peop